Category: Kindness

A few years back as a part of the 500 Kindnesses project I organized a holiday card drive for a retirement home in Chicago. Hundreds of cards came in from around the world to the seniors there, many of whom … Continue reading Brighten Someone’s Day

I think there’s a 30 day challenge going on lately that has a question about pet peeves because I’m seeing a whole bunch of posts on that subject. I don’t have a whole lot of them but one that gets … Continue reading Gratitude for Transportation

I didn’t realize it until google photos reminded me but today was the 5th anniversary of the end of the 500 Kindnesses Ride. What was this? Daegan, then 13 and I did a ride together to promote the idea of doing random acts of kindness. We treated it like a fundraising ride but instead of asking people to give money, we asked them to do something nice for someone. We would ride from Toronto to New York City – both cities with reputations as cities filled with unkind and irritable people. It was pretty successful and changed my own attitude … Continue reading Terrific Tuesday – 500 Kindnesses Anniversary

It’s that time of the week again – time to take a break from the discouraging and disappointing news of the week to remember that good things are still happening out in the world. Here’s a quick roundup: A State in India Has Turned 1,600 Tons of Plastic Trash Into 620 Miles of Road: One of the things many people notice when they visit India is trash and pollution. As someone coming from a much less populous country it would be easy to be really judgmental. I remember thinking, though, as I looked out the window on the train from … Continue reading Terriffic Tuesday – If You See Something Do Something

Years ago, Daegan and I did a project called 500 Kindnesses. The principle was simple: We would ride from Toronto to NYC (1500 km – just over 900 miles) from the city considered by many to be Canada’s unfriendliest to the one considered the most unfriendly in the US. We’d treat it like a charity bicycle ride. Except instead of fundraising for money we would ask people to pledge to perform acts of kindness instead. It was an amazing experience that is worth a whole post of its own someday. But a summary of it is here: One of the … Continue reading Terriffic Tuesday – This week in Good News

When I was on Facebook, one of my favourite things to do was to post news of good things happening in the world. For many folks, the Facebook feed can be something of an echo chamber. An upsetting news story breaks, then it gets shared, then it gets reacted to and the reactions are shared. It can be a barrage of awful news after just a few minutes of scrolling. At a minimum, after enduring a salvo of bad news we feel bad. But more often than not, it also can result in our making judgments: If all I’ve seen … Continue reading Terrific Tuesday – Inaugural Edition

Most of you likely remember our crowdfunding project to raise money to buy Chromebooks for Syrian Refugees, providing them with Chromebooks that could be used for everything from children’s homework to practicing English to staying in touch with friends and family around the world. The project was fully funded very quickly and thanks to a sale on a particular model, we were able to buy not only the original five we’d hoped to buy but an additional two for a total of seven Chromebooks. I’ve been working with a friend who also works with many newcomers to iron out the logistics. … Continue reading Chromebook Project Update